Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination, racism, bullying, physical abuse, sexual violence and harassment, emotional abuse, rape, death, and graphic violence. 

Chapter 5 discusses “trolls”—people who engage in online harassment and targeted bullying—and opens with direct and explicit quotes from messages that Bates herself has received from online trolls who harass and threaten her. Rather than being a distinct identity like the groups discussed thus far, “trolling” is a tactic that is utilized by different parts of the manosphere, although it is not exclusive to it. Though trolling is not limited to men, studies have shown that men are more likely to engage in online trolling than women, and trolling behavior tends to be misogynistic in nature. 

The term “trolling” came about in the 1980s or 1990s and has become a blanket term for many different forms of online harassment; it can include a range of actions from posting something intentionally inflammatory and invoking defensive responses to sending rape and death threats. “Troll,” Bates notes, is a euphemism that fails to convey the seriousness of this form of online harassment and the potential damage it can cause—it can cause psychological harm as well as dangerous real-life consequences.